Choosing Sides
by Isabel5
Summary: Nathan/Jack. Part Five in my "There's Always A Device" Universe. They aren't a normal couple in a normal town, so when Jack and Nathan have a fight it forces the whole town to choose sides.


Jack loved Eureka. He loved everything about the place. He loved the small town feel, where everyone knew everyone, and said hello as they passed on the street. He loved that even though there was that small town feel it was never boring thanks to the close proximity of Global Dynamics and the average Eureka citizens' penchant for blowing things up that never needed to be blown up. He'd never admit it to anyone, under any circumstances, ever, but he loved his job. He complained at every opportunity, he consistently bemoaned the insanity of Global Dynamics and everything they stood for, but he wouldn't go back to his old job for anything.

The things that he loved the most about Eureka were the little things, the ones that never changed, the ones he could count on. Jack knew that even after three years, every time he ordered a cheeseburger from Vincent, he would get an annoyed sigh and twenty minutes of Vincent trying to get him to try his new bison steak fajitas or the goat cheese and sun dried tomato tart with white truffle oil and twenty seven minutes later he'd have a cheeseburger. Jack knew that despite the number of times it directly brought about his almost certain and premature death, if you put a mysterious button in front of Douglas Fargo, he will push it. He also knew that no matter what, if you planned something, whether it was an intimate dinner for two or a dance where the whole town was in attendance, something somewhere was going to go horribly wrong.

He relied on these things, it didn't matter if killer Robot Fish were terrorizing the town or Zoe was dying her hair purple in an attempt to show that despite her respectable job and straight A's she was still a teenager and liked to indulge in passive rebellion every now and then these were the things that let Jack know he was home and everything was going to work out.

Over the past year however there was something new. It all started a week after Jack asked Nathan to move in with him. It was the first really big fight that Jack and Nathan had, even bigger than the thing with Zoe, even bigger than the thing with Abby. It resulted in Nathan not moving in, Jack not speaking to him for three weeks and indirectly caused a crisis of such incredible proportions that General Mansfield had to be called in before it escalated into a nuclear war between China and Russia. That was when Henry called the town meeting and that was when it all started.

* * *

"_Come on Henry, there's no way it would have gotten that far and if it had, would anyone care if China and Russia whipped each other off the map?" Jack scoffed. _

"_You do know what a nuclear war is right?" Nathan glared at him and Jack had to very strongly resist the urge to stick his tongue out at him. _

"_Whatever." Jack rolled his eyes. "What I would like to know is what one thing has to do with the other." _

_Henry sighed and looked between the two of them. "What they have to do with each other is very obvious. The two of you have been so busy either fighting with each other or completely ignoring each other that you almost started World War Four." _

"_Three." Jack corrected him. "World War Three." Henry and Nathan exchanged a look and Jack sat up straighter and then closed his eyes. "Please just, if you guys are not so subtly telling me that you took part in some secret world war, I really don't want to hear it right now." Nathan and Henry just smiled as Jack took a deep breath. _

"_Fine." Nathan gave in and leaned back in his chair. "You said you'd come up with a solution to this problem?" _

"_There is no problem." Jack said. _

"_I haven't slept in three weeks because I can't sleep without you anymore and I can't sleep with you because you're mad at me, and I'm snapping at people at work and I know for a fact that if I hadn't been wondering why you were spending an inordinate amount of time talking with the delivery guy…"_

"_We were talking about baseball Nathan, I wasn't inviting him back to my house for a quickie." Jack said for what felt like the two hundredth time. _

"_I know, but if I hadn't been paying attention to you, I would have paid more attention to the reports Fargo handed me and we wouldn't have had to evacuate the town to the bunkers to wait for the radiation to clear." Nathan said. "So there is a problem." _

"_Oh." Jack nodded and then turned to Henry. "Continue then." _

"_Like I said, we came up with a solution." Henry said. "Seeing as how Nathan is the head of Global Dynamics and in charge of a variety of very highly volatile experiments that could change the face of the history as we know it, he doesn't need to be distracted." _

"_Oh so what?" Jack scoffed. "I'm just supposed to agree with everything he says no matter how asinine it is? I'm just not supposed to argue with him, ever, about anything, because his job is important?"_

_Nathan smiled at Jack and Henry coughed. "Yes, Nathan's job is important, but, Jack is basically in charge of the well being of everyone in the entire town. He not only deals with all of the problems that happen at Global but you know just as well as I do that not everyone in this town works for Global, but everyone in this town has a penchant toward dangerous theoretical experimentation, so Jack really can't be distracted either." _

"_Ha!" Jack stood up. "So what you're saying is my job is more important than his job, so he has to agree with everything I say." _

"_No." Henry laughed. "What I'm saying is the two of you cannot fight, that's all there is to it. When you fight things fall through the cracks, nuclear weapons hidden since the 60's get aimed at foreign countries and the whole town suffers. The problem is that the both of you are so stubborn that you won't even consider giving in despite how obvious it is that the other person is right." _

"_How exactly are we not supposed to fight, if you recall it's all we used to do we can't just stop it." Nathan looked over at Jack. "That's half the fun actually." _

"_It is kind of fun." Jack grumbled reluctantly. _

"_Yes, well the two of you having little disagreements that resolve themselves by the end of the day aren't really my concern, it's the big fights that are bad, those are the ones that are dangerous." _

"_We're two very strong willed people Henry, we're not going to agree on everything, we're probably not going to agree on a lot of things." Nathan pointed out. _

"_Which is why you don't have to." Henry slapped his knees. "The town as a whole has come up with a solution that will effectively end your fighting, and make it to where neither of you have to give in." _

_Jack and Nathan looked at each other and smiled slightly. "I kind of like the sound of that." Jack nodded. "But how exactly do we do that?" _

"_We'll make the decisions." Henry said. "We the town will hear both sides to the argument, debate about the merits of each side logically and without emotional attachment and then we will present a solution for you that you have to follow." _

_Nathan and Jack sat there staring at Henry for a moment, just staring at him. "I'm sorry could you…repeat that for the slower one here?" Jack asked. _

_Henry chuckled. "We'll make the choice, you two don't have to do anything but go along without our decision." _

"_You're going to vote on the outcome of our fights?" Nathan said confused. _

"_That's the beauty of it. There will be no fights." Henry said. "If you have a difference of opinion on a matter you bring it to us and we decide whose argument is better, no fights, just solutions." _

_Jack opened his mouth and then closed it before looking at Nathan and then Henry and then back at Nathan. "This is crazy." He turned around and started pacing. "Certifiably crazy you realize that don't you." _

"_We took a vote at the town meeting tonight, everything thinks it's a good idea." Henry said confused. "Logically it makes the most sense." _

"_It makes the most sense? Logically? You can't just throw logic into the situation it doesn't work that way." Jack argued. _

"_Sure, because using logic to solve our problems would just send the world into chaos, maybe we should just flip a coin?" Nathan offered. _

"_We took a vote Jack it's already decided." Henry said almost apologetically._

"_You can't do that, you can't just do that." Jack looked at Nathan. "They can't do that can they? There has to be some sort of Constitutional commandment against that." _

"_Commandments are from the bible." Nathan squeezed the bridge of his nose in that way that let Jack know he was amused by something and annoyed at the same time. "Not the Constitution." _

"_Amendments then, whatever, the second Amendment." Jack snapped his fingers._

"_The second Amendment is about the right to bear arms." Nathan looked at Jack incredulously. "Didn't they make you learn the basics of America's governmental infrastructure before you became a US Marshall or did they just throw you a gun and a badge and let you loose on the population." _

_Jack glared and turned to Henry. "This is ridiculous Henry." _

"_Actually, it makes sense." Nathan said. _

"_It makes sense?" Jack squealed. "How? How does it make sense?" _

"_Whether we like it or not, our actions affect this town, this country, on a level that no one else's do. It makes sense Jack." Nathan said. _

"_So it makes perfect sense to you that the town votes on where we live and we just have to go along with whatever decision they come to?" Jack asked. That's what the fight was about. Nathan had no desire to live in the bunker with a Smart House that watched his every move and Jack couldn't leave SARAH. They argued about it, the moving in together was put off indefinitely and that created a rift between the two that resulted in the aforementioned intervention by General Mansfield._

"_Yes." Nathan said matter-of-factly._

_Jack stared at him as if he'd just sprouted a second head from the side of his neck that was singing the best of Andrew Lloyd Webber. "And this would have nothing to do with the fact that 70 of the town's residents work directly under you at Global Dynamics and you control their funding and employment status which would inevitably afford you the majority of votes by sheer panic that they could lose their jobs?"_

"_That's a perk." Nathan smiled at him sweetly. _

"_The ballot would be completely anonymous." Henry said. _

_Jack looked at Nathan who seemed all too pleased to let the town make all of their decisions for them and then at Henry who looked all too pleased with himself for coming up with the idea. "Fine, but when this whole thing backfires on you guys in a fire ball of astronomical proportions, don't come crying to me." Jack got up and walked to the door. _

_Nathan sighed and Henry smiled. "I got this." He stood up and followed him out. "Jack, just hold on a second." Jack stopped with his hand on the hood of the jeep. "It'll be a good thing trust me. Look at it this way, you guys won't have to fight again, no more of this stubbornly not talking to each other for weeks at a time, if we take away the decision making ability from you guys you don't have to worry about it." _

"_You think just because we're not the ones making the decisions it doesn't mean we won't fight about it. You guys with your logic and science, you always forget the human element." Jack shook his head and then sighed. "I'll try it your way though." _

"_We'll be voting on the housing situation later this week." Henry said. "It'll work, trust me." _

"_I'll believe it when I see it." Jack smiled and climbed in the car. _

* * *

The whole problem with the situation that Jack could see was that there was no problem. The town voted, Jack won because everyone remembered the time Jack was just thinking about moving and SARAH kidnapped people and almost destroyed the town. "Score one for logic." Jack smiled as Nathan moved another box of his stuff in. Nathan adjusted pretty quickly to life in the bunker and the one downside to the whole thing was that Jack had the feeling his house actually liked Nathan better than him, it deferred to Nathan over Jack on mostly everything except things that directly involved Zoe.

For the next couple of months the town mediated on three different arguments, all concerning Global in one way or another and Jack didn't win any of those. After he got over the indignation however, he had to conclude that he was overreacting and the town was right in every one of those instances. To Jack's surprise it did limit the fights that he and Nathan got into, no one left anyone anymore, no one stopped talking to anyone anymore, life was pretty good.

Only, because it was Eureka, even when something was working fine, people tried to make it better. So when the next fight came up, over Zoe taking a summer internship at Global Dynamics, Fargo in his infinite wisdom tried to make the process more efficient.

_

* * *

_

Jack took another confused look at the street before walking into the Sherriff's Station. "Jo do you have any idea why people keep pointing at their shirts and then giving me the thumbs up?" He sat down at his desk. "I hate the thumbs up, it seems so lame."

_Jo smiled and handed him a cup of coffee. "They're just showing their support." _

_Jack looked at her confused. "Wait, what? Showing their support for what?" _

"_For you." Jo smiled at him. _

"_Back up and start over." Jack got up and walked to the edge of his desk. _

"_The debate, over Zoe, it's getting a little heated, so Fargo suggested we show our support. Blue shirts are for you and Green shirts are for Nathan." Jo handed him a file. _

"_You have got to be kidding me." Jack said under his breath. "I can't believe that Fargo, no you know what? I can believe that Fargo would do this." He thought about it for a second and then smiled. "You know I think I saw more blue shirts than green shirts on the way in." _

"_That's because most of the people at Global Dynamics are probably already at work." Jo shrugged. "If it makes you feel any better…" Jo unbuttoned the top three buttons of her uniform and pulled it aside to show Jack her blue undershirt._

"_Thanks." Jack smiled at her. "That means a lot to me." _

"_Viva la Revolution." Jo smiled at him. _

"_Dad!" Zoe called out from the doorway. "I have those boxes for the food drive in the car. Come get them I'm gonna be late for school." _

"_Coming." Jack jumped up and walked to the door only to stop when he saw Zoe standing beside the trunk of her car, wearing a green shirt. "Really?" He put his hands on his hips. "You've got to be kidding me." _

"_Seriously dad?" Zoe smiled at him. "Did you think I was gonna side with you on this one? You know how bad I want this internship." _

"_Betrayed by my own daughter." Jack feigned heart pain as he reached for the boxes. _

"_I'm on your side sir." Lucas said stepping out from behind the car wearing a blue shirt. "I don't want her anywhere near that place." _

"_Good man." Jack gave Lucas a high five as Zoe rolled her eyes. _

"_Go, you're going to be late for school." Jack kissed Zoe's cheek and brought the boxes inside the station. He walked over to his desk and picked up the phone. _

"_Hey." Nathan answered, sounding busy as usual. _

"_Do you know that my daughter walked in here just now wearing a green shirt?" Jack said calmly. _

"_I'll alert the fashion police." Nathan said. _

"_No, I mean, wait do you know what the shirts mean?" Jack asked. _

"_Yeah I know." Nathan said. _

"_My own daughter." Jack said. _

"_If it makes you feel any better, Fargo's walking around the office with a blue undershirt proudly displayed." Nathan chuckled. "Mainly because he thinks Zoe's going to come in here and take his job away," Nathan moved his mouth a little away from the receiver and called out. "Which is a very distinct possibility if I don't get those numbers from section seven on my desk in the next hour." _

"_Yes Doctor Stark." Fargo muttered. _

"_He's afraid I like Zoe better than I like him." _

"_You do." Jack laughed. _

"_Yeah well, Zoe's hopeless at filing and she'd never suck up as well as Fargo." Nathan pointed out. "Don't you ever tell him I said that." _

"_Wouldn't dream of it." Jack said. "So the votes tonight, diner at Café Diam, eight o'clock to celebrate the outcome?" _

"_I'll meet you guys there." Nathan said before hanging up. _

* * *

That vote was the first official town draw; the line was firmly down the middle, the town evenly divided. Jack and Nathan were actually very mature about the whole thing and let Zoe choose, of course she chose the internship and surprisingly there wasn't much of a fallout. The shirts evolved from whatever simple blue and green tops people had in their closet to official shirts created by Fargo because he felt that they all needed to be uniform in both color and style so someone who simply liked green wasn't automatically associated as being on Nathan's side or someone wearing a light shade of purple wasn't mistaken for a Carter supporter. The whole thing, to Jack's amazement, was even paid for by the tax payers, and at the next town meeting everyone was issued one green shirt and one blue shirt.

Walking through town today it was apparent that the situation had evolved yet again. "Oh come on guys." Jack said after walking into Café Diam. "Seriously?" Jack asked with a tone that conveyed surrender. Vincent smiled at him and pointed down to his shirt as the other patrons did the same thing. Jack just threw up his hands and walked out without getting his coffee. He passed thirty more shirts on the short walk to his office and stopped to see Jo standing there with a blatant disregard for her uniform.

"Go Team Carter." She pumped her hands in the air and Jack just shook his head. There were new shirts now, screen printed with Team Carter on the blue and Team Stark on the green. This was his town, these were his people, and God help him, he loved them.

"Thanks." Jack said sitting down. "Could you go get me a Vinspresso? I couldn't face a sea of green and blue shirts this early."

"Sure thing boss." Jo said. "Viva la Revolution." One thing Jack really liked about debate weeks, especially debate weeks where Jo was on his side, was that she turned into super deputy. She got him coffee, she answered the phone, she called him boss without any anger or irony in her voice whatsoever, and then there was the whole "Viva la Revolution". Jack wasn't sure what the revolution was, why he was heading it, or what was supposed to happen in the revolution, but he kind of liked the sound of it.

"Viva la Revolution." He nodded at her. On debate weeks where Jo wasn't on his side, he was the devil. She sat at her desk and glared at him while flipping through magazines, refusing to answer the phone or do much of anything really except glaring, she was good at the glaring. But this time she was on his side and he was getting a Vinspresso.

His cell phone rang and he picked it up. "Have you seen the new shirts?" Nathan asked without any preamble.

"Yeah the entirety of Café Diam was wearing them this morning." Jack searched through his desk for a file.

"What was the count?" Nathan asked.

"I was in there for a second, I saw the shirts and I left, I don't know what the count was." Jack scoffed.

"Please, half a second is more than enough time for you." Nathan scoffed. "What was the count? Unofficially?"

"Fifteen for you and Eighteen for me." Jack smiled.

"Son of a…" Nathan stopped. "I can't get an accurate count here. Do you realize how many people work here? I didn't until today. I can't get an accurate count to save my life. I don't even know half these people, I'm their boss and I've never even seen them before, I think I counted this one woman three times, she keeps changing her hair or something."

"The vote is in two days." Jack laughed. "Just get over it and relax."

"Jack this isn't a normal vote, you do get that right?" Nathan said.

Jack sighed. Nathan was right, this was the first vote that probably had everything to do with their relationship and had nothing to do with the town. "I get that Nathan, but there's nothing we can do about it now, it's in the hands of the towns people."

"This coming from the man who thought this whole thing was a ridiculous waste of time." Nathan said then paused. "You know something don't you, you have an inside track? You got Lupo to go out and do an informal poll didn't you? You know you're going to win?"

"Stop being hysterical." Jack laughed. "There's no inside track, I didn't do any polling, and I don't know I'm going to win, I just hope I'm going to win. You need to relax Nathan, just…think happy thoughts."

"I'm not Peter freaking Pan." Nathan grumbled.

"Don't snap at Fargo anymore." Jack warned him.

"How did you know I snapped at Fargo?" Nathan paused.

"Please, two days until a vote, of course you snapped at Fargo." Jack told him.

"Only twice." Nathan tried to excuse his actions. "He's wearing a Team Stark shirt too."

"Ok, cut Fargo some slack, go up to section eleven and watch that black hole simulation thing that always calms you down." Jo walked in with his Vinspresso and he smiled. "I've got to go, I'll see you after work." He hung up quickly and reached out for the cup. "So what's the word?"

Jo pulled out her pad and smiled. "Café Diam is sixty/forty in your favor, the post office is eighty/twenty in Stark's, the high school is split pretty fifty/fifty and of course I couldn't poll at Global."

"That doesn't sound good does it? I guess it's still anyone's game." Jack sighed.

"Unfortunately." Jo said in disgust.

"You did good Jo." Jack smiled and so did Jo.

"You want me to go lobby down in Copernicus Park? We're gonna win this one Jack." Jo assured him. "We have to win this one."

Jack smiled at his partner then crinkled his forehead. "You have a side bet with Zane don't you?"

"He's won the past fifteen votes, I can't lose this one." Jo told him.

"Sure, but wait until after lunch." Jack asked her.

"No problem." Jo nodded. "Are we going with the "Carter's not as secure in his masculinity, he needs this more than Stark" or the "You want to make the grand gesture again, prove that you're really in this?" argument?"

Jack looked at her with a mixture of fear and astonishment. "The second one please." Jo scoffed. "You don't think…I mean you don't think it's the first one right?"

"Of course not." Jo said, somewhat unconvincingly. "I just think we'd get more votes with the first one."

"Ok, well I want to win, but I'd rather not have the whole town thinking I'm the girl in this relationship." Jack said.

Jo nodded but stared at him intently. "Are you?" She asked and Jack's head shot up. "Are you the girl?" Jo asked cautiously.

"Am I the…I can't believe you asked me that." Jack set his coffee cup down and fidgeted in his seat.

"Oh my god you are the girl." Jo laughed.

"I'm not the girl." Jack glared at her.

"Ok." Jo stopped laughing. "You're not the girl." She grabbed a file off her desk and opened it up. "It's just, I can't really see Stark being the girl you know."

"No one's the girl." Jack slammed his file shut. "Can we just drop this?"

"Sure, fine. So we're sticking to the "Grand gesture" argument. I think I can make that believable." Jo nodded.

"Cause it's the truth." Jack mumbled under his breath and sighed. He couldn't believe it had gotten this far, it wasn't supposed to be this difficult, it wasn't supposed to be a fight, it was supposed to be easy, a little nerve wracking yes, but easy. Nathan Stark never did anything easy.

_

* * *

_

Jack checked his pocket for the twentieth time that day and Zoe rolled her eyes. "It's still there Dad, it hasn't sprouted legs and walked away."

"_Hey, in this town that is a distinct possibility." Jack told her. _

_Zoe paused. "It's sad that you're telling the truth." She picked her bag up and slung it over her shoulder. "Don't freak, relax, everything is going to go fine, you're going to do fine, and I'm making myself scarce for the night, I'll be over at Pilar's if you have any news, when you have any news you want to impart, you know where to find me. Although feel free to wait until the morning if you guys want to celebrate privately." _

"_Go." Jack kissed her cheek and pushed her to the door just as it opened and Nathan walked in. _

"_Hey you going somewhere?" Nathan looked confused at the bag on her shoulder. _

"_Sleepover at Pilar's." Zoe said. "Have a good night." She reached up on her tiptoes and kissed Nathan on the cheek. She turned to Jack and gave him the thumbs up and walked out the door. _

"_What was that?" Nathan laughed as the door closed behind her. _

"_Girl stuff." Jack shrugged. "I don't know." _

"_Something smells good." Nathan set his briefcase on the side table and gave Jack a kiss. "Hey." _

"_Hey." Jack smiled at him warmly. "Uh SARAH made diner." _

"_Roast leg of lamb, potatoes and asparagus." Nathan checked out the table. "You hate lamb, and asparagus." _

"_I do not." Jack scoffed. _

"_You do too, you hate anything green." Nathan sat down at the table._

"_Yeah well you like them." Jack said. _

"_I do." Nathan nodded looking at the table. "This is my favorite actually…and do I smell chocolate soufflé?" _

"_Your favorite." Jack chuckled shrugging. _

"_Yeah." Nathan said slowly. "No." He backed up from the table and stood up quickly. "I know what this is Jack." _

"_Oh." Jack said. "I guess it was a little obvious." He fumbled in his pocket. "Making your favorite meal, with your favorite desert." He chuckled and ran a hand through his hair. "Having Zoe scram for the night." He pulled out a box. "Not how I wanted to do this, I had a whole evening planned and then a speech and everything." He opened the box and Nathan looked down at the ring. _

"_Jack." Nathan took a step back. _

"_Nathan, marry me?" Jack offered. _

"_No." Nathan shook his head and took another step back. _

"_Oh." Jack looked between Nathan and the box and then closed it quickly. "Oh, right, yeah, ok, well I just…" He shoved the ring box back in his pocket. "I just thought, we've been dating for two and a half years now, we've been living together for a year and a half and marriage is the next logical step and I love you and you love me and I know you love Zoe so but ok, yeah, I get it." Jack nodded. "It's fine, I understand." _

"_Jack." Nathan tried to interrupt._

"_No you know what I don't understand. You don't want to marry me?" Jack said incredulously. "I'm a great catch, you'd be hard pressed to do better than me and you know it." _

"_You are a great catch." Nathan assured him. "That is true." _

"_And there aren't many people who would put up with you, you know, with the long hours and the work you do and the work you take home." He pointed to the living room which was covered with pieces of a machine Nathan was trying to build. He'd explained to Jack what it was supposed to do but Jack just smiled and nodded and wondered if SARAH had taped the Indiana game. "I'm a saint to put up with that stuff." Jack pointed out. _

"_You are a saint, I'll call the Vatican in the morning, put your name up for consideration." Nathan smiled at him. _

"_You can't be canonized until you're dead. And also, you know, Catholic." Jack grumbled. "But thanks for the offer." He sat down at the table. "So if you agree with all of that, why don't you want to marry me?" _

_Nathan sat across from him and grabbed his hands. "I do want to marry you." Nathan assured him. _

"_Your previous actions contradict that statement." Jack laughed. _

"_It's just, it's a little stupid you know, but I wanted to be the one to ask." Nathan admitted._

"_But you're always complaining that I don't take enough initiative in this relationship. That was like the meaning of initiative." Jack pointed out. _

"_I know, and I appreciate the gesture I really do, it's just I wanted to do it." Nathan said. _

"_Does it matter who does it?" Jack asked him. "I mean it should just matter that it happens." _

"_Really?" Nathan said. "Then let me ask you." _

_Jack looked at him for a second before shaking his head. "No. I have the ring." _

"_I have a ring." Nathan reached in his pocket and pulled out a box. "I was just trying to plan the right evening." He motioned around the house. _

"_Ok, well I did it first." Jack argued. _

"_That's your argument?" Nathan laughed. "You want to marry me right?" _

"_Of course." Jack nodded. _

"_Then let me ask you." Nathan said. _

"_No." Jack crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair. _

_Nathan looked at him intently. "Well this is a predicament isn't it?" Nathan leaned back in his chair and they stared off. "Lamb?" _

"_I hate lamb." Jack raised an eyebrow as Nathan grabbed a plate and started to eat. "And yet I made it for you, that's how much I love you." _

"_Tell it to Henry." Nathan smiled at him. "And you had SARAH make it for me." _

* * *

Jack was pulled out of the memory when Allison snapped her fingers in his face. "Jack?" She asked again.

"Sorry, I was…thinking."

"Don't strain yourself." She chuckled at him.

"Ha ha." He sat up straighter. "Hey where's your shirt?"

"I'm not standing here naked." She pointed out.

"Obviously." Jack stood up. "I meant your Team shirt, how are we supposed to know who you're supporting?"

"I'm purple." Allison said. "I'm Switzerland. I'm supporting the idea of the two of you getting married and the ridiculousness of this whole "who gets to ask" thing."

"Ok, so if you don't care, why don't you just come on over to Team Carter." Jack smiled at her.

"Viva la Revolution." Jo said from the back of the station.

Jack and Allison laughed. "What is this revolution she keeps talking about?"

"I have no idea." Jack shook his head.

"We're doing the quarterly reports today, I need you at Global." Allison said.

"Sure thing." Jack grabbed his jacket and looked at Jo. "Copernicus Park."

"I'm on it. You got nothing to worry about boss." Jo nodded at him.

"What's in Copernicus Park?" Allison asked as Jack ushered her out of the Station.

"Nothing." Jack shook his head. "Don't worry about it."

* * *

"I hate quarterly report days." Jack stumbled into the bunker at the end of the day shaking as much of the orange goop that Stark assured him was harmless off of his hands. "Do you know that more things blow up on quarterly report days than any other day at Global Dynamics."

"We are required by the DOD to check the status of all of Global's projects, since most of them aren't ready, it generally ends badly." Nathan shook the same orange stuff off of his hands and sighed.

"Doctor Stark, Sheriff Carter, I've expressed multiple times that I would rather you didn't clean yourselves off after accidents at Global until you're in the shower, or at least the bathroom."

"Sorry SARAH." They both mumbled and headed for the stairs.

"Oh my God." Zoe walked out of the kitchen and laughed. "What happened to you two?"

"Doctor Parkman." They both said at the same time.

"Is that his fire suppressant gel?" Zoe sipped her water.

"Yeah. Good news it works." Jack pointed to his charred uniform. "Bad news, his delivery system still needs work."

"Go get cleaned up, you're dripping all over the floor, you know how SARAH hates that." Zoe shook her head at them.

"Where's your shirt?" Jack asked suddenly.

"I'm wearing it." Zoe looked down and smiled. "I'm purple."

"Not you too." Nathan sighed. "There were three of them at Global today."

"Allison's purple." Jack said.

"It's gaining in momentum." Zoe said. "We're really getting the word out."

"You're responsible for the purple movement?" Jack asked her.

"I'm a founding partner." She smiled. "There needed to be an option for those of us who think the both of you are crazy."

"Oh, but what happens if purple wins?" Jack looked at Nathan. "You guys have kid of ruined us. I'm not sure we know how to make decisions anymore."

"As much as this pains me." Nathan sighed. "You're dad's right. We're hopeless when it comes to this and you know it."

Zoe looked at the two of them and frowned. "You're right, I didn't think about that. We'll have to come up with a contingency plan."

"Doctor Stark, Sheriff Carter, your still dripping." SARAH said. They nodded and headed up the stairs.

* * *

"You're fidgeting." Nathan looked across the room at Jack who set down his comic book and glared.

"The meeting should have been over an hour ago." Jack stood up. "Why is it taking so long?"

"I'm blaming the Purple movement." Nathan smiled. "Zoe knows how to rally a community."

"That she does." Jack sighed. "I can't sit still."

"I know something that can calm you down." Nathan set his wrench down and turned around.

"Oh yeah what?" Jack crossed his arms over his chest and Nathan raised his eyebrows. "Oh that." Jack smiled.

"Yeah that." Nathan walked over and kissed Jack softly. "You remember that right?"

"We made a rule." Jack whispered. "We don't do…that during vote weeks." He said as Nathan's hand trailed down his arm and pulled him closer.

"Well you're all over the place, when you're all over the place I can't work, and the only thing that calms you down when you're like this…" Nathan reached into the back of Jack's pants and rested his hands on Jack's hips.

"OK, but just this once." Jack smiled and kissed Nathan.

"Maybe twice." Nathan nipped at Jack's bottom lip.

"I like twice, twice is good." Jack nodded and pulled away to drag Nathan to the stairs.

* * *

Jack ran into the room quickly, climbing back in the bed and snuggling his back up against Nathan's chest. "Got it." Jack held up the tub of ice cream. "How did you sneak ice cream into the freezer that isn't made from Soy Milk without SARAH knowing?"

"I told her it was just for me." Nathan grabbed the spoon and took a big bite.

"That's completely unfair." Jack grabbed the spoon back and took his own bite. "How come you get the good stuff and I get the soy sawdust stuff."

"Because your house likes me better than it likes you." Nathan motioned for Jack to give him a bite and he did. "Meeting still not over?" Nathan checked the clock. It was going on there hours now.

"I haven't gotten a call." Jack said.

"If you win?" Nathan took another bite of ice cream. "How would you do it?"

"What do you mean?" Jack turned and looked at Nathan.

"The proposal." Nathan said.

"Oh." Jack set the ice cream on the side table and sighed. "Well I guess, you saw right through the last one, but it was pretty good you know, I still like the nice romantic diner route. How about you?"

"Well." Nathan ran his hand lightly up and down Jack's arm. "Nothing fancy or anything, I guess we'd start out at Café Diam, you, me, and Zoe. We'd have a nice diner, come back here, and settle in for a movie."

"What movie?" Jack asked contented.

"I hadn't got that part figured out yet. Not like a really sappy romantic comedy but not like, Die Hard or anything." Nathan admitted. "Maybe I'd slip you a little of my non soy ice cream and then I'd just do it, I'd ask you and Zoe to marry me."

"Me and Zoe?" Jack asked.

"Well she gets a choice too." Nathan pointed out. "I want to make sure she wants to be a part of this family as much as I do."

"That's really…" Jack smiled and kissed Nathan softly. Both of their phones interrupted the moment with loud shrieks. They pulled apart and smiled.

"Doctor Stark, Sheriff Carter, Doctor Blake just called and requested your presence in Copernicus Park."

"Here goes." Nathan said as he pulled his pants on and Jack followed suit.

"Nathan, your proposal, it was really, it was really great." Jack said pulling his shirt over his head.

"You wanna skip this thing then and just let me do it?" Nathan offered.

Jack snorted. "Hell no, there's a chance I could still win this."

"In your dreams." Nathan grabbed his jacket and followed Jack down the stairs.

When they got to the park it was dark and quiet and for a minute there they wondered if they were in the right place. Then they saw Allison waiting at the entrance with a smile on her face. "Ok, what's going on, usually Henry just calls and let's us know who won, why are we in the park?" Jack looked around.

"I won right?" Nathan smiled. "I had to win."

"Nope." Allison shook her head.

"Yes." Jack yelled triumphantly. "I won, you lose, this is so great."

"I'm afraid you didn't win either." Allison shook her head.

"So what?" Jack calmed down. "It was a tie? Like Zoe's internship?"

"No tie." Allison said.

"I don't understand." Jack looked confused.

"I'm getting a bad feeling purple is somehow involved in all this." Nathan groaned.

"Purple won by a landslide majority." Allison smiled at the two of them.

"Purple?" Jack asked. "Really? Ok, but what does that mean? Zoe admitted that we're no good at making the decisions, you can't just not decide. Who proposes to who?"

"Neither of you are proposing." Allison motioned for them to follow her. They headed into the park and turned at the fountain and froze. There were lights everywhere, hanging from the trees, running along the ground, there were even a few floating in the air. There were rows upon rows of folding chairs, filled with the entire population of Eureka, dressed in their Sunday finest. There was an alter at the front, lined with twinkle lights and hanging flowers and Henry was standing underneath it with Reverend Harper.

"Ok, what's this?" Jack asked.

"Your wedding." Zoe said stepping up to them in a beautiful black gown and a huge smile on her face. "You guys were right, you'd never make the decision and it doesn't even matter because you both want to get married, and you want to marry each other so we decided to skip the proposal and go straight to the ceremony."

"You guys set this whole thing up in three hours?" Nathan asked amazed.

"Nah." Allison waved him off. "We had the real vote like a week ago, we've been working on this ever since."

"Ok, so we're just getting married?" Jack asked. "Just like that."

"The way we figured, no matter who we picked to propose, planning the wedding would cause just as much if not more decisions the two of you couldn't agree on. So we decided that you didn't get a say." Allison told them.

"Ok, but if you had the vote why did you pretend like you didn't? Why all the deception?" Jack asked confused.

"You know what Eureka's like, if even the slightest hint of a wedding was in the air, we'd be facing certain disaster right now." Allison laughed. "We thought this way would be better. Fargo's got your suits, if you'll follow him to the tents." Allison pointed behind her where Fargo was waiting with two garment bags. "Zoe you want to fill them in?"

Zoe nodded and led them to the tents to change. While they were behind the curtains getting dressed she filled them in on everything. "So Reverend Harper will do the ceremony. Dad, Henry and Jo are going to be your best men, Nathan, Fargo and Allison are yours."

"What are you doing?" Jack walked out from behind the curtain fumbling with his tie and Zoe smiled, taking it away from him and tying it.

"I'm going to walk the two of you down the isle and give the both of you away." She finished the knot and smoothed it down. "I couldn't pick a side."

"You're a pretty awesome kid you know that?" Nathan asked emerging from behind his curtain with his tie impeccably done.

"It's been said." Zoe waved off his compliment. "I'll go tell them to get started. I know this is a little overwhelming so take a minute, I'll be right outside the tent when you're ready." She kissed them both on the cheek and walked out, leaving them alone.

"So." Nathan smiled, straightening Jack's tie.

"So." Jack nodded. "We're getting married. Like now."

"Right now." Nathan repeated. "You ok with this? You ready to back out?"

Jack reached down and grabbed Nathan's hand, giving it a squeeze. "I'm more than ok with this." He assured Nathan and took a deep breath. "Let's get this party started before something blows up."

Nathan groaned and looked at Jack who realized what he'd just done and spun around three times on the spot then spit on the ground. They stood together bracing themselves for the inevitable explosion, or baring that, for their phones to go off. When neither of the two happened they looked at each other shocked. "What do you know." Nathan smiled. "It actually worked."

"Let's go." Jack said walking out of the tent.

Zoe held her arms out and Nathan and Jack both took one, allowing her to lead them down the isle. "Dearly Beloved." Reverend Harper began. "We are gathered here tonight, somewhat unorthodoxly, to join together Jack Carter and Nathan Stark, in holy matrimony. Who gives these men away?"

"I do." Zoe said brightly as she slipped her arms out of theirs and joined their hands together. "Their Daughter."

She kissed both of them again and then moved back to let the ceremony continue. Nothing blew up, nothing malfunctioned, Global Dynamics seemed to take the night off and give everyone a break as Jack and Nathan were married under the stars in the park. Zoe cried, Allison cried, Vincent and Fargo cried, and although no one would ever say it to their faces, the crowd was sure that the Sherriff and Doctor Stark both got a little misty eyed as they exchanged their rings and pledged their lives to one another.

When the ceremony was over and they were officially married the real party started. Vincent outdid himself with the spread and Spencer's band managed to play some pretty good music. The first dance got off to a rocky start, both men wanting to lead but before it could get put to a vote Nathan stepped back and gave it to Jack. "Call it my wedding present." He said with a smile and Jack did.

Both grooms danced with Zoe and then retired to a table to enjoy the evening. Jo and Zane were one of the first to offer their congratulations to the happy couple. "Sorry you lost the bet." Jack said to Jo.

"It's fine." She waved him off. "I'll get the next one."

"Sure you will." Zane scoffed.

"So is it going to be Sherriff Stark from now on? Or wait, Doctor Carter perhaps?" Jo smiled mischievously.

"Doctor Carter." Carter said proudly as Nathan cringed and answered with his own choice.

"Sherriff Stark obviously." He said. "You can't be serious? Doctor Carter?"

"Really, and I'm supposed to be Sherriff Stark?" Jack asked.

"I'm with Carter on this one." Jo said. "Sherriff Stark doesn't have the right ring to it."

"Oh really?" Zane said. "And Doctor Carter does? I feel dirty even saying that."

"Hey, that's gonna be my name some day." Zoe walked up indignantly. "If I get into Harvard anyway."

"You'll get in." Nathan said. "And what's wrong with Stark?" He turned to Jack.

"Nothing's wrong with it per say." Jack assured him. "I just don't see myself as a Stark you know. Allison." He motioned her over as she walked by. "What sounds better? Sherriff Stark or Doctor Carter?"

"Doctor Carter?" She asked confused wrinkling her nose.

"It just sounds wrong doesn't it?" Zane asked.

"Oh and Sherriff Stark just rolls off the tongue?" Jo laughed. "I don't think so."

"Ok, guys, really it's not…" Jack started.

"I'm with Zane on this one." Allison shook her head. "I just can't picture myself saying it. Doctor Carter…no it's just not right."

"Can we just have one night without…" Nathan tried to butt in but no one was paying attention anymore.

"Henry." Allison called him over. "Help us settle something would you?"

"Team Stark." Zane said proudly.

"Team Carter." Jo took the opposite stance.

"I think all this power over our decision making has gone to their heads." Nathan whispered with a chuckle.

"You think?" Jack nodded to Jo and Zane who were squaring off. "You have a Nobel Prize you know, it's not like they just hand those out to anyone."

"And you were a US Marshall." Nathan pointed out. "We're not completely incapable of settling our own arguments."

"Viva la Revolution." Jo yelled at Zane and then walked away.

"What the hell does that even mean?" He asked following after her. "Does anyone know what that means?"

"It means you're sleeping on the couch tonight." Jo called over her shoulder at him.

"Oh that's mature." Zane scoffed.

"This isn't going to end well." Zoe shook her head.

"Viva la Revolution baby." Jo snapped at Zane before stomping off.

Author's Note: This will probably be the last in the "There's Always A Devise Universe" unless I get slapped in the face by my muse again. This was actually my favorite chapter. It was fun to write, fun to think up and hopefully fun to write, so I hope you've enjoed them and I'll try to write something else soon.


End file.
